Stroke is the fourth leading cause of death, and the most significant cause of severe disability, in Hong Kong. It affects 3.6 per 1000 people per year. Unilateral neglect (UN) is a common phenomenon for hemiplegia in stroke patients which can be attributed to lack of arousal or spatial attention over the contralesional side. UN occurs in about 20% of stroke patients.
Studies show that sensory stimulation to the hemiplegic side is an effective treatment and practice. Traditionally, sensory stimulation was provided to patients manually by professional therapists. This is time-consuming and laborious for the therapists.
Two kinds of approach have accounted for a variety of neglect treatments including: the recruitment hypothesis that comprises treatments targeting spatial representation deficits; and the cueing hypothesis that comprises treatments targeting arousal deficits and deficient visual attention. In a single case study, spatial bias in unilateral neglect can briefly be reduced using self-initiated exogenous loud voice stimuli.
Therefore there is a desire for a device which enables daily autonomous practicing to treat users suffering unilateral neglect.